Facebook hears the music

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 20 Oct 2008 at 10:19

Facebook is planning to enter the digital-music business, as it seeks to take on MySpace Music, according to reports.

The social-networking site's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly talking to a number of streaming music services, including Rhapsody.com, iMeem.com, iLike.com and Lala.com, according to The New York Post.

Facebook executives have also been busy meeting major record companies about the strategy, the paper claims.

However, it appears Facebook is pursuing a slightly different strategy to its rival. Unlike MySpace, which traded equity in its music venture in exchange for licenses to stream ad-supported songs, Facebook doesn't want to secure licenses to distribute music, or build a proprietary service from scratch. Instead it wants to outsource the service to existing sites.

Sources further cautioned that nothing was imminent, and Facebook may ultimately walk away from the plan altogether.

Facebook did not immediately return calls seeking comment.